Before I get to my choices for the best episodes of this past TV season, I'd like to announce a slight format change on this blog. When I first started it up, my intention was to do a write-up of every movie and TV show I was watching for the first time. There was a very small number of things I didn't write about because I just had nothing to say about them, but for the most part I was diligent and got every review posted. As you can see, I haven't posted anything in over a month, and that last post was a month after the previous one. I've still been watching all kinds of movies and shows, but I've decided it's just too time-consuming to write about all of them. It probably takes me at least an hour per post (I'm not a fast thinker, okay?), which means every 2-hour movie takes up 3 hours of my time, and that piles up if I watch a few things in fairly close succession and then don't have the time to write them all up because of work and life getting in the way. To be honest it gets a little tiring forcing myself to write about everything, and it isn't really worth it when there's barely anyone reading. I'm not shutting down the blog, I just won't be posting about every single title anymore, and I will probably gravitate toward posts on more general topics and top 10 lists. I'm not going to do a weekly television post anymore (though it was fun naming a hero and douchebag of the week), but I'll likely still do season wrap-ups like this one, and I will always post about my top 10 movies of the year, even if it comes in June. Apologies to anyone who might be disappointed by this news, but it's still kind of cool to have a complete snapshot of my viewing habits over a three year period. Thanks for reading and now let's talk about some episodes!
Once Upon a Time
This show really surprised me in the later episodes of the season, because I had been mostly lukewarm about it and was expecting to name "Skin Deep" as my favourite. It's still a great episode, and probably makes a close second, but the finale, "A Land Without Magic", was just too epic and exciting not to choose it. It made me want to see the next season, a total reversal of where my opinion was when the series began.
Glee
It's no secret that I find every episode of Glee frustrating for its messy writing and overabundance of unnecessary characters, so when choosing the best episode it's not so much the best episode as the one that annoyed me the least. Tough call this time, as season three was the worst to date, but I guess this season's "least bad" episode goes to "On My Way", one of the few times I didn't feel that their handling of a serious issue was offensive or ineffective.
New Girl
Like Once Upon a Time, the second half of the season was an improvement on the first, although I don't think there was really an episode I loved more than the others. Maybe "Injured" or "Secrets".
Community
This year's pick was surprisingly easy for me. As always,
this show continues to do amazingly fun and creative episodes, but
"Remedial Chaos Theory" blew them all away as not only one of the
series' best episodes, but one of the best episodes I've ever seen of
any television show. It was so brilliantly written, so fun, lively,
hilarious, and strategic with the characters, that it was really the
perfect half-hour of entertainment. I mean, I can't not choose an
episode at which I was grinning the entire time and repeating "This is
so awesome!" to myself.
30 Rock
I think it's a tie between "Idiots Are People Three!", which had Devon Banks and Kelsey Grammer, and "Kidnapped By Danger", which had Weird Al Yankovic, and Billy Baldwin playing Jack Donaghy in a TV Movie. Excellent use of guest stars.
The Office
This season had its ups and downs, but never managed to be as hilarious as it was with Michael Scott around. Still, it had some laughs and sweetness left in it. I'd say top marks go to "Special Project", because I really liked the idea of Dwight getting stuck with the "dud" characters for his Tallahassee team but then finding them to be more capable than he thought.
Parks and Recreation
"Citizen Knope", the Christmas episode that very much highlighted what makes this show's cast of characters so awesome and lovable, each in their own completely unique ways.
Up All Night
This show was disappointing in that it was a lot less
hilarious than it should have been, but the finale, "The Proposals", was
more or less enjoyable after a mediocre first season.
Awake
In my opinion, every episode of this tragically cancelled series was fantastic except for one, which is not a bad track record at all. But my favourite was the series finale, "Turtles All the Way Down", because it wrapped things up in a way that was actually 100% satisfying, which doesn't happen that often in finales. Maybe because shows that go on longer than one season have built up an audience expectation that they can't completely fulfill.
Fringe
Fringe doesn't normally have stand-out episodes to me, but they did something unique this season in "Letters of Transit" when they spent an episode in the future. It was a crazy and risky move by the writers, but a very riveting episode that apparently served as a sneak peek for season five. Plus Desmond from Lost was in it.
On a final note, there is no new show this fall that looks good or interesting to me, but I will probably at least watch The Mindy Project. I hope mid-season will be better.
Showing posts with label this season in television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label this season in television. Show all posts
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Saturday, June 2, 2012
This Season in Television - 2011-2012 (Part 1)
Happy anniversary to the blog, which has been around for 3 years as of today! A pretty big waste of time considering how few people read it, so let's waste some more time revisiting the TV season! All of the shows I watched this season (there were about 15 of them) are eligible to win these awards, even if I only watched a couple of episodes, but only those 15 shows.
Best New Show: It's a draw between New Girl and Awake, but given that one is a comedy and one is a drama, I'm not going to choose between them. New Girl started out as a Zooey Deschanel vehicle where her character was the only funny one - which I didn't mind - but later evolved into a more cohesive ensemble comedy where everyone was able to make me laugh at different points. It may not be as good as Community or Parks and Recreation, but it was still the best new comedy this season. Awake had by far the best premise of anything that debuted this season, and it delivered everything it promised with a show that was engaging, enigmatic, moving, and powerful. It's disappointing that it was cancelled, yet I was wholly satisfied by the ending.
Worst New Show: I'm not going to say The Playboy Club (which I liked more than most people did, I think); I'm going to say Smash, NBC's other big drama. What puzzles me is why, between Smash and Glee, no one can write a musical television series that isn't infuriating. To be fair, the writing wasn't nearly as messy as Glee's, but the characters were all such pretentious snobs that the half-hearted attempts to make them likeable did not outweigh how uninteresting they were.
Best Comeback: I define this award as going to the series that had a significantly better season this year than the previous one, but there isn't anything that qualifies this time around. By saying that, I don't mean everything sucked; I mean everything was just as good or worse (see next award).
Worst Comeback: Here's an easy one. Worst Comeback goes to Glee, which is always riddled with problems but somehow managed to get even worse this year as they unnecessarily added new characters (and then mostly ignored them), random storylines (also mostly ignored), and offensive attempts at handling serious issues. Runner up: The Office, which still has its moments but isn't the same without Steve Carell.
Most Creative: For the second year in a row, Community is the most creative show on television. Its experiments in different genres and styles remain unmatched in a medium that is slowly becoming homogenized. Runner up: Awake, because it took the police serial and made it awesome.
Least Creative: I'd have to go with Suburgatory on this one. Not so much for the concept (although it isn't mindblowing), but for the humour, which was often dull or predictable, or both. Especially in the Christmas episode, after which I stopped watching because it played out like it was written for children. Plus voiceovers should be used sparingly and work better when the narrator isn't a character in the story (see Arrested Development). Runner Up: Up All Night, for many of the same reasons as Suburgatory, only it's less mediocre.
Best Opening Title Sequence: This is a new category this year, because I remembered how much I love credits sequences when they're done in a cool way. Community often changes their credits for special episodes, and the coolest this season was probably the video game intro in "Digital Estate Planning". Runners up: Community (Law & Order title sequence in "Basic Lupine Urology"), New Girl (the execution of it is almost like a live play, plus Zooey wrote the theme song herself.)
Best Finale Cliffhanger: I think a lot of shows didn't even have cliffhangers this season because they were worried about being cancelled, but there was one awesome cliffhanger that had me excited for the next season, and that was on Once Upon a Time.
Hero of the Season: Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation. She may not be the funniest character on the show, but she is just as lovable as the rest of the cast and her determination, dedication, strength, and warmth is what makes her awesome (she won Hero 3 times this season). Runners up: Andy from Parks and Recreation, Jess from New Girl.
Douchebag of the Season: Alicia from Survivor: One World. While she didn't win Douchebag the most times this season, and her castmate Colton was just as awful, she wins this one because I had to sit through every episode of the season listening to her brag, insult people, make offensive remarks, and pretend she's good at strategizing, all while the other players inexplicably seemed to like her. I really couldn't stand her by the last few episodes, but I'm so happy she didn't win. Runners up: Ryan from The Office (who did win Douchebag the most times: 4), Nellie from The Office, Coach Roz from Glee.
Part 2 coming up later this summer, which will contain my choices for the best episodes of the shows I watched.
Best New Show: It's a draw between New Girl and Awake, but given that one is a comedy and one is a drama, I'm not going to choose between them. New Girl started out as a Zooey Deschanel vehicle where her character was the only funny one - which I didn't mind - but later evolved into a more cohesive ensemble comedy where everyone was able to make me laugh at different points. It may not be as good as Community or Parks and Recreation, but it was still the best new comedy this season. Awake had by far the best premise of anything that debuted this season, and it delivered everything it promised with a show that was engaging, enigmatic, moving, and powerful. It's disappointing that it was cancelled, yet I was wholly satisfied by the ending.
Worst New Show: I'm not going to say The Playboy Club (which I liked more than most people did, I think); I'm going to say Smash, NBC's other big drama. What puzzles me is why, between Smash and Glee, no one can write a musical television series that isn't infuriating. To be fair, the writing wasn't nearly as messy as Glee's, but the characters were all such pretentious snobs that the half-hearted attempts to make them likeable did not outweigh how uninteresting they were.
Best Comeback: I define this award as going to the series that had a significantly better season this year than the previous one, but there isn't anything that qualifies this time around. By saying that, I don't mean everything sucked; I mean everything was just as good or worse (see next award).
Worst Comeback: Here's an easy one. Worst Comeback goes to Glee, which is always riddled with problems but somehow managed to get even worse this year as they unnecessarily added new characters (and then mostly ignored them), random storylines (also mostly ignored), and offensive attempts at handling serious issues. Runner up: The Office, which still has its moments but isn't the same without Steve Carell.
Most Creative: For the second year in a row, Community is the most creative show on television. Its experiments in different genres and styles remain unmatched in a medium that is slowly becoming homogenized. Runner up: Awake, because it took the police serial and made it awesome.
Least Creative: I'd have to go with Suburgatory on this one. Not so much for the concept (although it isn't mindblowing), but for the humour, which was often dull or predictable, or both. Especially in the Christmas episode, after which I stopped watching because it played out like it was written for children. Plus voiceovers should be used sparingly and work better when the narrator isn't a character in the story (see Arrested Development). Runner Up: Up All Night, for many of the same reasons as Suburgatory, only it's less mediocre.
Best Opening Title Sequence: This is a new category this year, because I remembered how much I love credits sequences when they're done in a cool way. Community often changes their credits for special episodes, and the coolest this season was probably the video game intro in "Digital Estate Planning". Runners up: Community (Law & Order title sequence in "Basic Lupine Urology"), New Girl (the execution of it is almost like a live play, plus Zooey wrote the theme song herself.)
Best Finale Cliffhanger: I think a lot of shows didn't even have cliffhangers this season because they were worried about being cancelled, but there was one awesome cliffhanger that had me excited for the next season, and that was on Once Upon a Time.
Hero of the Season: Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation. She may not be the funniest character on the show, but she is just as lovable as the rest of the cast and her determination, dedication, strength, and warmth is what makes her awesome (she won Hero 3 times this season). Runners up: Andy from Parks and Recreation, Jess from New Girl.
Douchebag of the Season: Alicia from Survivor: One World. While she didn't win Douchebag the most times this season, and her castmate Colton was just as awful, she wins this one because I had to sit through every episode of the season listening to her brag, insult people, make offensive remarks, and pretend she's good at strategizing, all while the other players inexplicably seemed to like her. I really couldn't stand her by the last few episodes, but I'm so happy she didn't win. Runners up: Ryan from The Office (who did win Douchebag the most times: 4), Nellie from The Office, Coach Roz from Glee.
Part 2 coming up later this summer, which will contain my choices for the best episodes of the shows I watched.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
This Season in Television - 2010-2011 (Part 2)
I meant to include this in part one, but I didn't get the chance and it would've made that post super long anyway. Since the new TV season will be starting up soon, I think this is a good time to go back and name my favourite episodes of last season. (Note: Survivor is not included, because it's a reality show and all of the episodes are too similar for any of them to ever stand out.)
The Cape
Probably the pilot episode, because it's the only one I didn't really have any problems with.
V
"Mother's Day", the series finale bloodbath that was actually kind of fun and fulfilled my wish to kill off the worst character on television. Yay!
Glee
Glee is pretty much always flawed, but I watch the show for the comedy of Sue and Brittany, and "A Very Glee Christmas" was an enjoyable enough episode that heavily featured both of them doing what they do best.
Running Wilde
"Into the Wilde" was probably the funniest of the series, but "It's a Trade-Off" was the most entertaining, where Steve and Emmy trade lives for a while and begin to take on each other's mannerisms.
Community
This is the most difficult show to choose a favourite episode for, because it's all over the map and does a lot of awesome things in different ways. "Cooperative Calligraphy" (the "bottle episode") might have been the most memorable because it was purely character and nothing else, and still stands out as one of my favourites. But there are multiple runners-up that gave us great genre parodies: "Basic Rocket Science", "Epidemiology", "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design", "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas", "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons", "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking", "Paradigms of Human Memory", and "A Fistful of Paintballs". Told you it was hard.
The Office
"Goodbye Michael" was a perfectly wonderful send-off for a beloved character, and is a close second, but it doesn't quite match the epic "Threat Level Midnight", which was quite possibly the most hilarious and entertaining episode of the entire series, let alone the season. People should start doing the Scarn dance at parties and weddings.
Parks and Recreation
Every episode was solid this season, so this is also difficult. Stand-outs include "Flu Season", "Harvest Festival", "Fancy Party", "Soulmates", "Eagleton", and "Li'l Sebastian". If I was forced to choose one... I guess I'd say "Harvest Festival". It had such a big, climactic feel to it and featured a few of the recurring supporting characters, making it very true to the show's own nature because it had everything that is Parks and Recreation.
30 Rock
Whenever I think back on season 5, the episode that always seems to come to mind first is "Brooklyn Without Limits", guest-starring John Slattery as a crazy congressman. It's also kind of hard to choose a favourite for 30 Rock, but for yet another different reason, which is that for me the jokes are often more memorable than the storylines, so really I would just be choosing my favourite joke(s). And Congressman Steve Austin was one of my favourite jokes, but it was an ongoing one that lasted most of the episode. Runner-up jokes include the Mel Gibson montage at the telethon in "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" and Jack and Liz's cold opening in "Double-Edged Sword".
Fringe
To be honest, I don't think I really found season 3 to be all that memorable. I mean I can easily say that my favourite season 2 episode is the one with Peter Weller, but there isn't a lot that stands out this time around. Maybe "Os", because I liked the idea of using a floating agent plus weighted boots to allow crippled people to walk (or at least stand up). And it was the first instance of Anna Torv doing her amusing Leonard Nemoy impression.
TV returns this week, and the full schedule is up and running next week! See you back here for "This Week in Television"!
The Cape
Probably the pilot episode, because it's the only one I didn't really have any problems with.
V
"Mother's Day", the series finale bloodbath that was actually kind of fun and fulfilled my wish to kill off the worst character on television. Yay!
Glee
Glee is pretty much always flawed, but I watch the show for the comedy of Sue and Brittany, and "A Very Glee Christmas" was an enjoyable enough episode that heavily featured both of them doing what they do best.
Running Wilde
"Into the Wilde" was probably the funniest of the series, but "It's a Trade-Off" was the most entertaining, where Steve and Emmy trade lives for a while and begin to take on each other's mannerisms.
Community
This is the most difficult show to choose a favourite episode for, because it's all over the map and does a lot of awesome things in different ways. "Cooperative Calligraphy" (the "bottle episode") might have been the most memorable because it was purely character and nothing else, and still stands out as one of my favourites. But there are multiple runners-up that gave us great genre parodies: "Basic Rocket Science", "Epidemiology", "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design", "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas", "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons", "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking", "Paradigms of Human Memory", and "A Fistful of Paintballs". Told you it was hard.
The Office
"Goodbye Michael" was a perfectly wonderful send-off for a beloved character, and is a close second, but it doesn't quite match the epic "Threat Level Midnight", which was quite possibly the most hilarious and entertaining episode of the entire series, let alone the season. People should start doing the Scarn dance at parties and weddings.
Parks and Recreation
Every episode was solid this season, so this is also difficult. Stand-outs include "Flu Season", "Harvest Festival", "Fancy Party", "Soulmates", "Eagleton", and "Li'l Sebastian". If I was forced to choose one... I guess I'd say "Harvest Festival". It had such a big, climactic feel to it and featured a few of the recurring supporting characters, making it very true to the show's own nature because it had everything that is Parks and Recreation.
30 Rock
Whenever I think back on season 5, the episode that always seems to come to mind first is "Brooklyn Without Limits", guest-starring John Slattery as a crazy congressman. It's also kind of hard to choose a favourite for 30 Rock, but for yet another different reason, which is that for me the jokes are often more memorable than the storylines, so really I would just be choosing my favourite joke(s). And Congressman Steve Austin was one of my favourite jokes, but it was an ongoing one that lasted most of the episode. Runner-up jokes include the Mel Gibson montage at the telethon in "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" and Jack and Liz's cold opening in "Double-Edged Sword".
Fringe
To be honest, I don't think I really found season 3 to be all that memorable. I mean I can easily say that my favourite season 2 episode is the one with Peter Weller, but there isn't a lot that stands out this time around. Maybe "Os", because I liked the idea of using a floating agent plus weighted boots to allow crippled people to walk (or at least stand up). And it was the first instance of Anna Torv doing her amusing Leonard Nemoy impression.
TV returns this week, and the full schedule is up and running next week! See you back here for "This Week in Television"!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
This Season in Television - 2010-2011
Today is the second anniversary of the blog, so thanks to everyone who stopped by (i.e. no one) over the last two years.
To celebrate, here's a special season-ending post recounting some of the highlights of the TV shows I watched this year.
Best New Show: I didn't stick with any of the new shows I watched this season, but then all of them are now canceled so I couldn't anyway. Running Wilde was the best of the bunch because the others can all be considered lame, and while I don't consider Wilde awesome (nowhere near as brilliant as Arrested Development), it had some funny moments.
Worst New Show: My Generation, canceled after two episodes I believe, which tells you a lot. I only watched one, which tells you even more. The concept was kind of interesting on paper, but they blew it.
Best Comeback: After a slightly sub-par season last year, 30 Rock came back with a lot of hilarious episodes, to everyone's relief.
Worst Comeback: The series finale of V had some good moments, but it was one of those shows where too many characters are acting like morons every episode. Glee is also frequently flawed, but at least that show has Sue Sylvester, and I would rather watch her than Tyler Evans any day.
Most Creative: No contest, the answer is Community. It's one of the most creative shows on television right now, and this season we got a WIDE assortment of experimentation in genre and style. It's like nothing else on TV right now, and I am totally ready for another season of parodies, pop culture references, and ridiculous fun.
Least Creative: No Ordinary Family, a show so bland that it did literally nothing new whatsoever and tried to disguise that fact with cool superpower effects. However, the cool superpowers are what kept me watching for a few episodes (ditto for The Cape's nerd factor), and why My Generation got "Worst New Show" instead.
Best Finale Cliffhanger: Cliffhangers are usually better suited to dramas, but I have more comedies on my schedule, and Fringe was more "WTF" than cliffhanger, so this one goes to Parks and Recreation, which actually kind of pulled out multiple cliffhangers for each of its characters.
Hero of the season: Michael Scott from The Office, who won the hero award more times than anyone else this season (4, to be exact). I've always enjoyed his antics, but as he finally made his exit this year, we saw Michael grow into someone who is wiser, more mature, and more likable than he ever was in the old days, and he made us miss him. Runners up: Pam from The Office and Andy from Parks and Recreation, who each scored 2 hero awards this season and had some touching moments of their own.
Douchebag of the season: Yes, folks, it's Tyler Evans from V. Most of the characters on that show are often stupid and/or bland, but Tyler outshines them all and, if I'm not mistaken, was considered the worst character on television by everyone who ever watched. He was a whiny, angsty, ignorant tool who was only ever motivated by daddy issues and wanting to jump Lisa's bones (okay, can't blame him for that one), and I was complaining about him almost every week even though he only made douchebag twice. Runners up: No one is as horrible as Tyler Evans.
BONUS SNEAK PREVIEW! After watching some trailers for upcoming shows, I have decided which ones I may be interested in next season. Here they are, in order of how excited I am to see them (most to least):
To celebrate, here's a special season-ending post recounting some of the highlights of the TV shows I watched this year.
Best New Show: I didn't stick with any of the new shows I watched this season, but then all of them are now canceled so I couldn't anyway. Running Wilde was the best of the bunch because the others can all be considered lame, and while I don't consider Wilde awesome (nowhere near as brilliant as Arrested Development), it had some funny moments.
Worst New Show: My Generation, canceled after two episodes I believe, which tells you a lot. I only watched one, which tells you even more. The concept was kind of interesting on paper, but they blew it.
Best Comeback: After a slightly sub-par season last year, 30 Rock came back with a lot of hilarious episodes, to everyone's relief.
Worst Comeback: The series finale of V had some good moments, but it was one of those shows where too many characters are acting like morons every episode. Glee is also frequently flawed, but at least that show has Sue Sylvester, and I would rather watch her than Tyler Evans any day.
Most Creative: No contest, the answer is Community. It's one of the most creative shows on television right now, and this season we got a WIDE assortment of experimentation in genre and style. It's like nothing else on TV right now, and I am totally ready for another season of parodies, pop culture references, and ridiculous fun.
Least Creative: No Ordinary Family, a show so bland that it did literally nothing new whatsoever and tried to disguise that fact with cool superpower effects. However, the cool superpowers are what kept me watching for a few episodes (ditto for The Cape's nerd factor), and why My Generation got "Worst New Show" instead.
Best Finale Cliffhanger: Cliffhangers are usually better suited to dramas, but I have more comedies on my schedule, and Fringe was more "WTF" than cliffhanger, so this one goes to Parks and Recreation, which actually kind of pulled out multiple cliffhangers for each of its characters.
Hero of the season: Michael Scott from The Office, who won the hero award more times than anyone else this season (4, to be exact). I've always enjoyed his antics, but as he finally made his exit this year, we saw Michael grow into someone who is wiser, more mature, and more likable than he ever was in the old days, and he made us miss him. Runners up: Pam from The Office and Andy from Parks and Recreation, who each scored 2 hero awards this season and had some touching moments of their own.
Douchebag of the season: Yes, folks, it's Tyler Evans from V. Most of the characters on that show are often stupid and/or bland, but Tyler outshines them all and, if I'm not mistaken, was considered the worst character on television by everyone who ever watched. He was a whiny, angsty, ignorant tool who was only ever motivated by daddy issues and wanting to jump Lisa's bones (okay, can't blame him for that one), and I was complaining about him almost every week even though he only made douchebag twice. Runners up: No one is as horrible as Tyler Evans.
BONUS SNEAK PREVIEW! After watching some trailers for upcoming shows, I have decided which ones I may be interested in next season. Here they are, in order of how excited I am to see them (most to least):
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